BigGameHoundsmen.com

WARNING THIS IS A COMPLETE RAMBLE!!!
Ok I thought I would share some of the stuff I have learned the hard way over the last two years. With that in mind I will say this has nothing to do with actually running your dogs but may help you in the future if your thinking about getting into hound hunting. So far I have made tons of mistakes, I got into this thinking how hard could this really be you just get a dog and take it hunting right? Well that was a pretty ignorant thought on my part. So here are my suggestions if your getting started. First if you don't already have dogs spend some time and find someone you can hunt with and learn from. Read everything on this sight front to back. There is a lot of information on here. I probably read everything on here that I say below but was in too big of a hurry to get started and didn't pay attention. Understanding how to hunt your dog and knowing what to look for and types of areas to hunt will pay dividends in the future. If I could start over I would definitely do this.

Once you have an understanding of the sport I would personally buy the equipment that I needed before I ever got a dog and buy good equipment that you can put your trust in. I didn't have a lot of extra money when I started this adventure and thought I would just figure it out when the time came. Well the time came and I didn't have any equipment other than a crappy e-collar. Then I did some trading here on the site on got a used Telemetry system. That was great but i lacked serious confidence in my ability to use it(goes back to hunting with an experienced houndsman). I knew I would probably eventually find my dog but I was scared to death and undoubtedly held him back when I went hunting. Then I traded with another guy on here for a decent e-collar system. Boy I was riding High style now as I trained my dog to call him back on the tone. Well we went hunting anyways but I found myself stressed out every time he took off and it wasn't a ton of fun wondering if I was going to find him. It wasn't until a couple months ago that I bought a Garmin ( a piece of equipment that I was comfortable with using and understood how it worked). Now even though these have some limitations I had a ton more confidence in myself with letting the dog out of the truck. Then the first good run my dog gave me I learned that when a e-collar manufacturer says 1 mile range line of sight they mean it. My range in the area I hunt in is about 350-400 yards at best. But in the end I was confident that I would find my dog if he actually treed something or if I wanted to pull him off I would be able to cut him off and pick him up.

I guess one of the biggest things goes back to my mentality when I started of how hard could this be. Like I said I bought a pup from a fairly local reputable cat hunter and figured I would do a little training and this dog would do the rest. Well not so much. I found out pretty quickly that a dog will chase whatever his nose lands on and he likes not just cats. The area I hunt is pretty thick and we get very little snow. So going out and looking for tracks to work the dog on is next to impossible since we only get a little snow once or twice a year. So it has been difficult to get him on good game. My point goes back to having people you can hunt with or wait and spend the extra money on a broke dog or at least a older pup trainer you can send a pup with.

Just to be clear about the pup I bought from the local guy. My lack of success has nothing to do with the dogs ability, it is purely on me. I have no doubt that if my dog were in the right hands he would be a kick ass cat dog and I will keep working on getting him to that direction.

I know to most this is all pretty obvious but I just figured If I could save someone the headaches I've had then it was worth saying. There are a lot more things I have learned just cant think of them at this time. I have finally found a couple of older guys locally that have allowed me to hunt with them and each time is a learning experience

Now if your married and even if your not remember something that will keep you in the woods more often. A happy wife is a happy life. If you keep her happy with you at home your more likely to spend more time in the woods. Sorry for the rambling but like I said if it helps someone from making the same mistakes then it was worth saying.

kbe119 wrote: A happy wife is a happy life. .

That's no lie.That is the best advice of all.

Your spot on but I believe every hound hunter should have to go through the lows in order to get to the highs..

Trueblue been married 16 years and always have to remind myself of this.

Sounds like you are way ahead of the game by identifying and learning from your mistakes quickly, most of us don't!

kbe,

You will do just fine! You have a learning attitude and recognize this hounding is not an overnight success story. You have already come further than some of these" one month know it alls" ever will. Wish you the best and I think you will get the most out of your dogs and your hound hunting experiences. There are very few hounders that can start out on the top, but the journey to getting a good pack of hounds that make you proud is what makes it worthwhile.

Go for it!

I'm in a situation similar to you, I have a good solid dog and attempting to train my first dog. I agree that getting a garmin is essential, but I'm glad I started out without one because it forces you to walk tracks out and that way you learn way more about the game you are trying to catch and your dog. I only hunt lions and I still walk out about every track I turn out on because it is a much better learning experience and because I don't have roads in my country anyway. But like you I still have tons to learn and can't wait to do it. Great post.

well put sounds exactly like my experiences brought back memories anyone wanting to get started should have to read this

I do agree all the modern tracking equipment and training collars are nice these days. I have a Garmin and a wildlife telemetry with 15 or so collars. I don't think not having that should hold a man back from getting a hound if he wants to start hunting. I'm 39 years old and put a name plate collar on my first dog that my daddy let me claim when I was 7 years old. Didn't have all that equipment. If it was available then I couldn't have bought it any way. My dad is 71 years old still has dogs and doesn't own any of that equipment. He always tells me we had good dogs ( coon ,fox and deer hounds) before any of that stuff was thought of. Now people can't hunt or won't hunt with out it. I say if you want to be a dog hunter you got to get started somewhere and for me it was a thin framed running walker female pup and a $ 2 leather collar with a .50 cent name plate on it from the feed store in town. I was 20 years old before I had my first tracking equipment. But also in those days we could hunt 15 miles from home and the dogs would come home on there own. But very good advice on going hunting with others and learning all you can before you start but I wouldn't let not having all the garmins and e collars hold me back from getting started.

Kbe this post is great it made me think back to when I first started and all of my own experienced hardships. I look back and can tell u now that hound hunting has given me a great freedom in life and peace of mind.my best advice to u is keep hunting with someone who knows the ropes but pay close attention to the dogs and learn from them. They will teach u more than any hunter. Remember your races and try to make a clear view of how the hunt went in your head.recognise an individual dogs bark and always try to determine what it means every time it barks.this might sound confusing to u at times but later u will understand.it should always mean something when a dog barks like a smart person telling u something important.eventually u will become a great listener and a good hunter. Good luck to u.if u ever have any questions I would be glad to help u

Learning how to do it all wrong will serve a purpose down the road....Some guys don't know the difference between a deer race and a cat race...When I started, we didn't have cell phones, e-collars worth a dang, telemetry or Garmin....

We used bells....Our trucks took a beating trying to stay up with the hounds! We pioneered the old saying when we released the hounds....Dog gone!.....Technology has come a long ways over the years. Our first e-collars would shock the dogs when you keyed the c.b. mike....They had an eyesight range of two hundred yards on a good day, if they worked at all....

By having this site and knowledge should shave off about ten years from the learning curve but sill understand, reading and doing aren't the same....Nothing better over the long haul then the school of hard knocks!

Good luck Hunting!

Mike

PROTECT YOUR HEARING!!!!! When I was young I thought I was bullet proof but years around farm equipment and factory noise shows up when you hit your 50's. Makes it a lot harder to distinguish those chop mouths from each other. Wear those ear plugs around equipment or any loud noises!!! That will help your hound hunting in the future more than you think! Wish I had!!!

Huh?

scrubrunner u are exactly right, protect those ears, I felt the same way when I was young, heavy equipment beating in your ears will ruin you, a person can see there eyesight going away, but one cant hear his hearing going away ! and to the guy that started this post! remember practice makes perfect, a hound will not make sitting up, he is just like a piano, one don't use it , it will go out of tune, and a person that says he has no problems with his hounds is not hunting

Thanks for all the replies and advice really appreciate it. Gotta say I do agree with protecting your hearing. I'm 36 and already have pretty substantial hearing loss in my right ear and it rings all the time. I really noticed a difference in hearing the dogs last week one of the old dogs sounds like a fog horn and I could hear him fine one of the younger dogs has a real high pitch squall and I had to turn my good ear towards the mountain so I could hear her.